Singer up for prize not on radar in U.S.

September 01, 2006|RAFER GUZMAN Newsday

Quick: Name a song by the critically acclaimed British singer Richard Hawley. Can't do it? You're not alone. Even though Hawley is nominated for the Nationwide Mercury Prize, one of the most prestigious music awards in the United Kingdom, he is virtually unknown in America. That's often how it is with the Mercury Prize, whose winner (always a British or Irish artist) will be announced Tuesday. Each year, Americans greet the news with a scratch of the head, as few of the nominees are ever familiar (Guillemots? Lou Rhodes?) except to all those music hipsters who shop primarily in the imports section. Even when there is a well-known nominee, the prize often goes to a more obscure artist. Last year, Coldplay lost to the underground act Antony and the Johnsons. As for Hawley, he earned his nomination on the strength of "Coles Corner" (Mute), an overlooked gem to say the least. (It has sold about 4,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.) Hawley is no newcomer: He began as a guitarist, first with the '90s-era band Longpigs, then as a session man for Pulp, Beth Orton, even Robbie Williams, but in the 2000s, Hawley embarked on a solo career. It's unclear what took him so long to find his voice, because it's one of the more compelling voices around, a resonant baritone that quivers with emotion. Hawley's slow-motion phrasing has a drugged, dreamlike quality that recalls Scott Walker, Tim Hardin and Roy Orbison, all pop crooners who were grandiose, melodramatic and more than a little weird. "Coles Corner" is named after a spot in Hawley's hometown of Sheffield where, he writes in the CD booklet, lovers of a bygone era once met and began their evenings out. (The booklet contains some personal, poignant memories of the spot pulled from a Sheffield Web site.) The songs are orchestral and lush, almost otherworldly -- in other words, perfect for Hawley, who sings as if he's floating in space or in the middle of the sea. (Check out the album's hypnotic centerpiece, "The Ocean.") Hawley is competing for the Mercury prize against Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who recently released his first solo album, and against the young buzz band Arctic Monkeys. In other words, his odds are slim. Win or lose, however, Hawley deserves a larger audience than just the Mercury judges -- and all those hipsters.